Woodbridge High’s student-run Art Council is working diligently to make this year’s Fine Arts Day exciting and memorable for everyone.

Fine Arts Day is a long-time beloved tradition at Woodbridge High. It is an entertaining day for everyone on campus, as students and staff get to take a break from classes to appreciate the arts department and their work. 

Art Council president and senior Sham Aljijakli is in charge of planning this year’s upcoming Fine Arts Day, and explains the reasoning behind the event. 

“Fine Arts Day is an event we hold at the school for all students to display all their kinds of arts,” Aljijakli said.

Aljijalki mentioned the various kinds of art displayed, including paintings, drawings and ceramics. In addition to visual arts, the performing arts and music departments also take part in Fine Arts Day, through musical and dance performances, plays and more.

Secretary of Art Council and junior Mira Ikladious is heavily involved in the planning and describes Fine Arts Day as a way for everyone to recognize students in the art department.

“[Fine Arts Day] is to showcase all of the work done throughout the year and everyone’s projects together,” Ikladious said.

Students and staff alike enjoy Fine Arts Day every year, but very few consider the extensive planning that goes into it. Aljijakli and Ikladious both agree that planning starts in the beginning of the school year and continues into spring. 

Art Council vice president and junior Thisakya Gunasinghe De Silva further corroborates this by explaining how Art Council distributes the work of planning for Fine Arts Day throughout the school year.

“Normally in the first semester, we would discuss and plan most of what we are doing towards Fine Arts Day,” Gunasinghe De Silva said. “Then as soon as the second semester starts, we would start working on everything we planned during the previous semester.”

Ikladious further explained that Art Council starts planning earlier because there is a great deal of organization involved due to all of the different facets of Fine Arts Day.

“It takes usually the entire year because you have to account for everyone’s art and for how the students are going to get to the places,” Ikladious added.

Planning Fine Arts Day requires a lot of organization. Aljijakli stated that the biggest challenge as Art Council president is making sure that all of the departments and contributors stay on track due to the copious amount of tasks they have to complete.

“We make a lot of posters to advertise. We have to actually set up all the tables, figure out what we’re going to sell, what we’re going to display,” Aljijakli said.

The planning includes organizing “fundraisers, decorations, what kind of supplies would be needed, advertising,” and more, Gunasinghe De Silva said.

Art Council meets quite often in order to stay on schedule with executing all of the different art displays.

“We’ve been doing one meeting a week that’s mandatory. Then several meetings after, and meetings after school so we can make posters and also live artists, murals, and a bunch of ceramic stuff to showcase in front of all the students,” Ikladious said. 

Planning Fine Arts Day this year is slightly different than it has been in previous years, according to Ikladious. This year is the first where different departments are planning the event together.

“Usually it’s the arts department and the music department planning separately. This year, we have people from every department coming together and planning together, to make sure it goes as smoothly as possible,” Ikladious said.

According to members of Art Council, this year’s Fine Arts Day is planned to be extra impressive this year, with a few surprises in store.

“We have some exciting activities and things planned for the day,” Gunasinghe De Silva said.

Ikladious provided some examples of why Woodbridge High students and staff should look forward to Fine Arts Day this year: “There’s live artists who paint in front of everyone. We also have people selling things, and their projects throughout the year and we’re showcasing basically all the work that all the students did. We’re just celebrating that.”

Aljijakli advised Woodbridge High students to bring their money for Fine Arts Day this year.

“We’re selling a lot of things, such as bracelets, and even some actual art pieces,” Aljijakli added. 

Including being able to purchase some beautiful, unique artwork, there are many reasons to look forward to Fine Arts Day this coming April, according to the members of Art Council.

“You can buy a bunch of stuff, you can find out what kind of arts you want to go into next year and you can just learn so much about arts, which you wouldn’t know before,” Ikladious said. 

Fine Arts Day, which will take place in mid-April, is scheduled to be a lively, entertaining, and informative day for everyone at Woodbridge High School, due to Art Council’s hard work.